Gingko Scion For Grafting. 20 Dec 2023.

 I collected these scion for grafting in late winter.

The original tree is a male, thirty years old, that I grew from seed that my late dad had collected.  It's a beautiful tree.   I wanted to preserve it at the Battle Ground house, and grafted scion onto seedlings that I grew from locally collected seeds.

But it grows weird.  I straighten it up, but it always grows almost horizontally.

I don't know why it grows so weird.  Maybe I grafted it upside down?  Would it grow that way?  I don't know.

The tree has some offshoots.  I decided to graft a couple of those with scion from the top, and see what happens.  I'll store the same as I do apple scion.

Collecting Apple Scion. 20 Dec 2023.

 I'm not happy with the red flesh apples.  They are too small, too sour, even astringent, too hard, and just not very good.  That's the bottom two tiers of each of theree espaliers.  Too much garden space to waste of something I don't like.

I read some where that lower tiers on espaliers are not as vigorous as uppers.  I don't know if that is true.  I decided to remove most of those lower tiers, and graft vigorous varieties that I know I like, in their place.  So it's an experiment.

I collected scion from the varieties Akane and Jonagold, so far.  

This is way more than I will use.  It's good to have choices for grafting, and they needed pruning anyway.  These are in plastic zipper bags until later winter.  I don't like using plastic, but these are washed, re-used bags.

There are three espaliers to re-graft.  Not sure about the third choice.  Porter is vigorous, and good so maybe that one. 

Schlumbergera Seedlings. 20 Dec 2023.

 Here are the Sclumbergera seedlings, from seed I planted two weeks ago.

I don't have a macro lens, so they are difficult to see.  There are about ten seedlings.

I had them on a seed starting warming mat.  The pot was covered with plastic wrap to maintain warmth, uncovering daily to air out.  I read they need light, so they are under an LED desk lamp.

So far, so good.  Today I watered from below and turned up the light intensity.  I have not done this before, so it is an interesting experiment.

Peach Leaf Curl Prevention. Mid Nov, 2023.

 Delayed posting.  This is the genetic dwarf peaches - more peach bush than peach tree.  The crops are very rewarding, and the peaches are delicious.  They get peach leaf curl very badly, unless protected from rain.

I left the protective cage in place all year, just removing the plastic cover in late Spring.  This time, instead of tying the plastic down at the corners, I used duct tape to reinforce the sides of the sheet, with a loop of string every foot or so.

Without rain on the nodes, there is no leaf curl disease.  I'll prune off the exposed branches in Spring, and shorten the branches once I can observe the flower buds.

Shelling Green Bean Pods For Seeds. 6 Dec 2023.

 Last month  I salvaged the last of the green bean pods to save seeds.  The pods were mildewed.  I let them dry out in a paper bag.  The timing doesn't seem important as long as they are crispy dry.   Now I shelled them, got a couple hundred seeds.

I think they'll grow just fine.  

It doesn't take a lot of plants, to get a lot of bean seeds.  Just let a few go to full ripening.  With around 5 beans per pod, it only takes 20 pods to get 100 seeds.  Maybe four or five plants.  My experience is, they germinate faster than purchased seeds.  That may relate to age and storage conditions, or maturity of the seeds when collected.

I stored these in a paper envelope in the pantry.

Based on my labeling, the variety is contender.

The plan will be to plant these earlier than I usually do, both for an earlier crop and for earlier seed saving that won't result in mildewed pods due to fall rains.